It is said that good movies only raise problems, not solve them. In fact, it is because these problems are fundamentally difficult to solve. A Clockwork Orange is undoubtedly a film that “raises problems”, and it raises more than one problem. .
Since this film is too classic, and the theme of the film has been explained by countless audiences and fans, this article may only be a rough recap of the previous views.
First of all, when we look at the 13 feature films of Kubrick, the "genre master", although the types of these works are very different, the themes of each work are actually somewhat similar. For example, from "Path of Glory" to "A Clockwork Orange" to the last "Eyes Widespread", these three works all share a similar theme, that is, the manipulation of the upper classes of society over the lower classes. In "Road to Glory", it is the officers' manipulation of soldiers; in "Eyes-Opening", it is the rich and powerful man's manipulation of ordinary people; in this "A Clockwork Orange", it is the government's manipulation of Human manipulation. This is the first question raised by the film, and it should be the most critical question.
"Totally good is as inhumane as outright evil, what matters is the right of moral choice". This sentence is the expression of the author of the original novel, but at first glance, or from the perspective of the text, this sentence is not quite right. At least from my point of view, just looking at this sentence, it feels like It's a tribute to free will, a bit of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". And "A Clockwork Orange" is by no means a hymn to free will, of course it involves free will, but the purpose is not to praise, but to think about its opposite. A Clockwork Orange's reflection on suppressing violence with violence and forcing human nature to do good by depriving people of the right to choose is "asking questions", while praising free will becomes "solving problems". So why can't it be said that it is solving a problem? This is the second question raised by the film, which will be mentioned later.
Back to the first question, I think that the first question is not "Can human nature be forced to be good by depriving people of the right to choose?", because this question obviously has a negative answer, but "the free will of human nature." What should we do in the face of social manipulation?", "A Clockwork Orange"'s thinking about free will does not stop at individual people, but rises to the level of society, and discusses the relationship between society and individuals. In the movie, Alex's good and evil has become a tool for politicians to compete for power. Good and evil are no longer his self-choice, but are controlled by the social system, screwed up, and human nature has become society's The victim, the individual's free will is destroyed, like a clockwork orange, it looks alive from the outside, but the inside is just a bunch of parts running coldly in a predetermined way. So, "When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man", can a clockwork orange be an orange?
With the first question, I think it's still almost something. Although according to the above, the first question seems to be "unsolvable", but it still has an idealized answer, that is, "praise free will", which can be considered to solve the problem on an ideal level, so I I think there may be a second question, which is not as critical as the first question, but it makes the first question even more unsolvable. This point, I think, is fundamentally different from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest".
Kubrick's works have always shown a pessimistic creative attitude, from the activation of the ultimate weapon that destroys the world in "Dr. Strangelove", to the excessive dependence of human beings on tools in "2001 A Space Odyssey". Loss of humanity and backlash, and then to this "A Clockwork Orange", the styles of the entire "Future Trilogy" are different, but the pessimism about humanity and humanity is the same. What Alex in "A Clockwork Orange" embodies is a pure evil of human nature. Kubrick does not believe that such evil can be changed through ordinary education. This is what I think the film still has. The second question that exists is, "How do we deal with the evil of human nature?" The conventional education will not work, nor will it work to suppress violence and deprive the right of choice, nor will it work to return to nature and society. This is undoubtedly a predicament. , and this dilemma and the first question raised by the film are highly self-consistent, human nature is inherently evil, and evil is pure. In this heavy context, "praising free will" is tantamount to praising evil.
The combination of these two issues may be the fundamental proposition of the film.
2020.07.18
View more about A Clockwork Orange reviews
